Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 100 posts

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#81

Post by saurik »

jerrya wrote: post #75
samuel wrote: post #61

He's OK. I don't know how to link a tweet but see textfiles account( https://twitter.com/#!/textfiles ) Mark Pilgrim is alive/annoyed we called the police. Please stand down and give the man privacy and space, and thanks everyone for caring. ... The communication was specifically verified, it was him, and that's that. That was the single hardest decision I've had to make this year.

Mark is annoyed? How about Mark is goddamn lucky and should be both embarrassed and grateful that he's enough of a character that a chunk of the internet cares about him. Mark is annoyed? It is Mark Pilgrim's right to disappear, but to disappear in a puff of greasy black smoke and 4̶0̶4̶s̶ 410s is just attention whoring and begging people to look for him and call the police. There is no reason for Mark to be annoyed…

He probably/hopefully/certainly also has friends and family that he interacts with on a day-to-day basis that, were he to actually-really-really disappear, would care about him and call the police. It is frankly kind of creepy/scary that a bunch of people he barely knows think it is their place to /call the police/ if he gets sick of the weird kind of attention you get from that kind of audience (and frankly reinforces the behavior of wanting to "go 410").

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#82

Post by msbarnett »

saurik wrote: post #81
jerrya wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mark is annoyed? How about Mark is goddamn lucky and should be both embarrassed and grateful that he's enough of a character that a chunk of the internet cares about him. Mark is annoyed? It is Mark Pilgrim's right to disappear, but to disappear in a puff of greasy black smoke and 4̶0̶4̶s̶ 410s is just attention whoring and begging people to look for him and call the police. There is no reason for Mark to be annoyed…

He probably/hopefully/certainly also has friends and family that he interacts with on a day-to-day basis that, were he to actually-really-really disappear, would care about him and call the police. It is frankly kind of creepy/scary that a bunch of people he barely knows think it is their place to /call the police/ if he gets sick of the weird kind of attention you get from that kind of audience (and frankly reinforc…

Jason Scott, the guy whose twitter account that is and the guy who called the police, evidently knows Mark Pilgrim well enough to verify that he was talking to Mark because they were discussing a matter "only the two of them knew about".

That doesn't sound like "creepy Internet people Mark barely knows" to me.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#83

Post by saurik »

msbarnett wrote: post #82
saurik wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He probably/hopefully/certainly also has friends and family that he interacts with on a day-to-day basis that, were he to actually-really-really disappear, would care about him and call the police. It is frankly kind of creepy/scary that a bunch of people he barely knows think it is their place to /call the police/ if he gets sick of the weird kind of attention you get from that kind of audience (and frankly reinforc…

Jason Scott, the guy whose twitter account that is and the guy who called the police, evidently knows Mark Pilgrim well enough to verify that he was talking to Mark because they were discussing a matter "only the two of them knew about". That doesn't sound like "creepy Internet people Mark barely knows" to me.

Firstly, let me point out that I am responding to jerrya, not Jason Scott (whom I have also interacted with on a few occasions, and is a friend-of-a-friend enough that when I heard about this mess I turned to someone else in the room and asked them about what was up).

"Mark is goddamn lucky and should be both embarrassed and grateful that he's enough of a character that a chunk of the internet cares about him"

I believe that statement belies a general mentality that I run into constantly: I myself have "disappeared" a few times, for less than 72 hours, because I decided to "take a weekend off" (attending a concert, for example), and I /did not appreciate/ that a ton of people on Twitter seemed to think that meant that I had "died", and insinuated calling the police to find me.

Regardless, to respond now to your comment regarding Jason: they apparently aren't close enough for Jason to a) call Mark directly, b) call someone in Mark's family, c) call any of Mark's friends, or d) have any clue what happened to Mark other than to "[call] his local PD for a welfare check", which to me indicates they aren't really close at all.

Seriously: having something "only the two of them knew about" isn't actually that rare: I've only talked with the man (Jason) a couple times, and yet I bet I could pass that test as well.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#84

Post by kenferry »

jerrya wrote: post #75
samuel wrote: post #61

He's OK. I don't know how to link a tweet but see textfiles account( https://twitter.com/#!/textfiles ) Mark Pilgrim is alive/annoyed we called the police. Please stand down and give the man privacy and space, and thanks everyone for caring. ... The communication was specifically verified, it was him, and that's that. That was the single hardest decision I've had to make this year.

Mark is annoyed? How about Mark is goddamn lucky and should be both embarrassed and grateful that he's enough of a character that a chunk of the internet cares about him. Mark is annoyed? It is Mark Pilgrim's right to disappear, but to disappear in a puff of greasy black smoke and 4̶0̶4̶s̶ 410s is just attention whoring and begging people to look for him and call the police. There is no reason for Mark to be annoyed…

This doesn't make sense to me. Is there any example of a way Mark could have not been okay in a way that is helped by people on the internet tracking him down? Clearly his material was intentionally taken down.. short of "silenced by the gubbermint", I'm not sure how tracking him down could help. It seems more like voyeurism..

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#85

Post by zach »

jdnier wrote: post #43

So check this out: Google "http error code 410" and the second hit is from diveintomark.org circa 2003. """ Let’s all talk about HTTP error code 410. ... Error 410 means Resource gone, as in, a resource used to exist at this location, but now it’s gone. Not only is it gone, but I don’t know (or I don’t want to tell you) where it went. ... Now, there is not a lot of information about error 410... I suppose because it…

410 Gone (but alive/annoyed) is the new 200 OK.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#86

Post by 21231651 »

jerrya wrote: post #75
samuel wrote: post #61

He's OK. I don't know how to link a tweet but see textfiles account( https://twitter.com/#!/textfiles ) Mark Pilgrim is alive/annoyed we called the police. Please stand down and give the man privacy and space, and thanks everyone for caring. ... The communication was specifically verified, it was him, and that's that. That was the single hardest decision I've had to make this year.

Mark is annoyed? How about Mark is goddamn lucky and should be both embarrassed and grateful that he's enough of a character that a chunk of the internet cares about him. Mark is annoyed? It is Mark Pilgrim's right to disappear, but to disappear in a puff of greasy black smoke and 4̶0̶4̶s̶ 410s is just attention whoring and begging people to look for him and call the police. There is no reason for Mark to be annoyed…

It is Mark Pilgrim's right to disappear, but to disappear in a puff of greasy black smoke and 4̶0̶4̶s̶ 410s is just attention whoring and begging people to look for him and call the police.

Come on. If I could, I would downvote you to hell. Seriously? You think nobody has a right to delete stuff they put there? They do not have the choice to lose interest in one thing and considering that maintaining it is a liability "take care of it" the old fashioned way? How can you be annoyed that a guy is annoyed that people sent a police car in front of his house. That is just the most ridiculous thing I heard since this morning.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#87

Post by jerrya »

21231651 wrote: post #86
jerrya wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mark is annoyed? How about Mark is goddamn lucky and should be both embarrassed and grateful that he's enough of a character that a chunk of the internet cares about him. Mark is annoyed? It is Mark Pilgrim's right to disappear, but to disappear in a puff of greasy black smoke and 4̶0̶4̶s̶ 410s is just attention whoring and begging people to look for him and call the police. There is no reason for Mark to be annoyed…

It is Mark Pilgrim's right to disappear, but to disappear in a puff of greasy black smoke and 4̶0̶4̶s̶ 410s is just attention whoring and begging people to look for him and call the police. Come on. If I could, I would downvote you to hell. Seriously? You think nobody has a right to delete stuff they put there? They do not have the choice to lose interest in one thing and considering that maintaining it is a liabilit…

Mark has every right to disappear, I said so. And Mark has every right to delete all of his stuff. Sure.

And Mark has every right to delete all of his stuff, stuff that has been widely linked to, stuff heralded as brilliant, and he has the right to delete all of his accounts, but what he has no right to do when he does that and leaves no explanation, is to be annoyed that people wonder what happened to him?

This is an age passed the kids' faces on milk boxes.

We have google that puts up a infobox for suicide prevention if you search for suicide.

We have amber alerts. We have diggs/reddits/farks starting searches for missing people.

We have had several famous net suicides including one in January 2011, where a woman posted her suicide intention, people read it, no one took her seriously, and she went through with it. Needless to say all of her Facebook friends were heavily criticized in the following days.

We have a zillion different ways to connect in an age that stresses how wonderful the socially connected internet is, and Mark goes off and deletes all of his stuff and his accounts with no explanation whatsoever,

And he's annoyed that people notice and take action?

If he wants to delete his stuff, fine. Leave a nice page up saying he is fine but for reason X he is taking down his material for awhile. Wish everyone well, and thank them for their concern. And he's clearly smart enough to understand that.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#88

Post by textfiles »

saurik wrote: post #83
msbarnett wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jason Scott, the guy whose twitter account that is and the guy who called the police, evidently knows Mark Pilgrim well enough to verify that he was talking to Mark because they were discussing a matter "only the two of them knew about". That doesn't sound like "creepy Internet people Mark barely knows" to me.

Firstly, let me point out that I am responding to jerrya, not Jason Scott (whom I have also interacted with on a few occasions, and is a friend-of-a-friend enough that when I heard about this mess I turned to someone else in the room and asked them about what was up). "Mark is goddamn lucky and should be both embarrassed and grateful that he's enough of a character that a chunk of the internet cares about him" I beli…

How about you not decide you know everything, internet detective.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#89

Post by 21231651 »

jerrya wrote: post #87
21231651 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is Mark Pilgrim's right to disappear, but to disappear in a puff of greasy black smoke and 4̶0̶4̶s̶ 410s is just attention whoring and begging people to look for him and call the police. Come on. If I could, I would downvote you to hell. Seriously? You think nobody has a right to delete stuff they put there? They do not have the choice to lose interest in one thing and considering that maintaining it is a liabilit…

Mark has every right to disappear, I said so. And Mark has every right to delete all of his stuff. Sure. And Mark has every right to delete all of his stuff, stuff that has been widely linked to, stuff heralded as brilliant, and he has the right to delete all of his accounts, but what he has no right to do when he does that and leaves no explanation, is to be annoyed that people wonder what happened to him? This is a…

Why would he explain it to anybody, I didn't know him or his work, but by god if he wants to disappear he disappears. Also he posted no suicidal tendencies as far as I gather, he posted nothing stating he is suicidal or even sad. Maybe just bored, but definitely not sad. Why would he explain his actions to everyone. Who are you to demand an explanation? Did you contribute to his work in any way? Do you hold stake or shares in his work? Did you invest in him or his work? You didn't. One can say that he was a public figure and public made him. Big deal! Did he practically rallied to become famous? No. Did he have ad campaigns? No. Did he actively marketed his work? No. He just posted his good work and was happy that people used it in whatever way. But then he gets bored and says "I am out". Giving up a hobby should not result in a immediate police welfare call.

What did people notice? That his public side is gone? So they immediately assumed that he is dead? That looks like a leap of faith. There were other ways to reach him than police. They could have found out who knew him and told those people to make contact. Police calls are drastic actions and an embarrassment.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone know where Mark Pilgrim went?

#90

Post by Tichy »

saurik wrote: post #83
msbarnett wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jason Scott, the guy whose twitter account that is and the guy who called the police, evidently knows Mark Pilgrim well enough to verify that he was talking to Mark because they were discussing a matter "only the two of them knew about". That doesn't sound like "creepy Internet people Mark barely knows" to me.

Firstly, let me point out that I am responding to jerrya, not Jason Scott (whom I have also interacted with on a few occasions, and is a friend-of-a-friend enough that when I heard about this mess I turned to someone else in the room and asked them about what was up). "Mark is goddamn lucky and should be both embarrassed and grateful that he's enough of a character that a chunk of the internet cares about him" I beli…

Well if you disappeared for a serious reason, maybe you would appreciate people caring. Other than that, just tweet "taking a weekend off".
Post reply on HN